"There are others who we never thought five years ago would be competitors for us," Fields said Wednesday, stopping short of naming which companies were emerging as sector rivals. The software-maker Google recently unveiled an autonomous vehicle.

"Guess what, they are looking at our industry, not taking anything for granted, they are questioning tradition and they are knocking down walls; I want to make sure Ford doesn't end up like the handset business," Fields told an automotive conference in Bochum. He added that most producers of cellphones had become reliant on the business model of telecom providers.

Fields did not elaborate on his point. But as cars evolve technologically and become more connected to smartphones and similar devices, opportunities for new business models — such as car sharing — are emerging. These put less emphasis on owning a particular brand of car and open up the industry to new competitors who rent out fleets of cars in large cities, charging users a fee for time spent in a car.

2015 Ford Mustang GT. Ford

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Ford must stay on top of innovations to remain competitive, Fields emphasized. "There is always that pull to take things for granted and to say that is the tradition: Our opportunity is to take those blinders off," he said.

Separately, Fields reiterated that Ford was adjusting output to lower demand in Russia. "Russia will continue to be a drag on our earnings," he said. This, and higher pension costs, were the main reasons for Ford's losses in Europe.

Ford was working together with its local partners in Russia to mitigate the fallout from the crisis.

"We are making sure production is matched to demand," Fields told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference. "We are making sure we are making appropriate cuts to overhead costs but continuing to serve the market."